


After Dawn: Prologue

by robbie_writes



Series: After Dawn [2]
Category: The Inpatient (Video Game), Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath, Aftermath of Violence, Background Relationships, Blood and Injury, Cold, Depression, Developing Relationship, Eventual Romance, Everyone Lives (Until Dawn), Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Frostbite, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hypothermia, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm Bad At Tagging, Injury, Injury Recovery, Inspired By Until Dawn (Video Game), Interviews, Major Sam Giddings/Mike Munroe, Minor Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley, Minor Injuries, Minor Mike Munroe/Jessica Riley, Minor Sam Giddings/Beth Washington, POV Third Person, Past Relationship(s), Police, Post-Game(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Until Dawn (Video Game), Prologue, Recovery, Relationship(s), Rescue, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Short, Slow Romance, Spoilers, Therapy, Until Dawn (Video Game) Is Its Own Warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robbie_writes/pseuds/robbie_writes
Summary: Seven of the eight friends from Mt. Washington have been rescued by the park rangers and brought to the police station for questioning. Though they are back on uncursed land, their minds are still plagued with the horrors they went through. It's going to take everything they have not only to convince the police that they are telling the truth, but to convince themselves that they are now safe. Sometimes, memories are the worst form of torture.
Relationships: Ashley Brown & Chris Hartley, Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley, Emily Davis & Matt Taylor (Until Dawn), Emily Davis/Matt Taylor (Until Dawn), Jessica Riley & Matt Taylor (Until Dawn), Jessica Riley/Matt Taylor (Until Dawn), Mike Munroe & Jessica Riley, Mike Munroe/Jessica Riley, Sam Giddings & Beth Washington, Sam Giddings & Mike Munroe, Sam Giddings/Beth Washington, Sam Giddings/Mike Munroe
Series: After Dawn [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902574
Kudos: 20





	After Dawn: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> ***TRIGGER WARNING***  
> This part mentions nausea & throwing up. Please read at your own risk.

After scanning the room for the fifth time since being placed in it, Sam’s eyes fell to her lap where her hands were folded. She laid them flat on her thighs, examining the skin at her fingertips. The very ends had turned nearly white, slowly changing to red, and finally back to her pale tone by the time it reached her knuckles.

Despite how horrendously cold she felt, she was no longer shivering, which she knew was a bad sign. In the back of her mind, she was screaming at herself to get up. To ask someone to turn off the fan, to get her dry clothes, to take her to a hospital.

But she couldn’t.

Sam was exhausted. She couldn’t will herself to move, no matter how much a part of her wanted to. The other was far stronger, telling her to curl up onto the chair and sleep the rest of the day away.

How long had it been since they were rescued? She didn’t know. The blinds were shut, blocking out the sunlight and any possible warmth from it. The clock mounted on the wall hadn’t moved once since she had been brought inside.

Was time even moving anymore? Sam began to think that maybe, it had frozen completely. The world had stopped turning, stopped rotating around the sun, stopped all movements of every living thing. She felt like she couldn’t breathe.

“Sam?” A quiet voice called out, causing her to flinch and look over at the door where an officer stood. “I’ve been calling for you.” She blinks at him with tired eyes, trying to beg for help without moving her mouth. “I need you to come with me.”

The blonde surprised herself when she managed to get up from the chair, even if it was slower than she would have liked. Her joints and muscles ached with every step she took, following behind the tall male. Sam could kill for a bottle of ibuprofen.

She was led into a room of similar size as the last. However, this one was far less comforting. Instead of grey carpet and burnt orange walls, it consisted of concrete beneath her feet and stone on all four sides. Sam felt even colder in there without the insulation.

When the police officer motioned to one of the metal chairs, mumbling something faintly, she did as directed and slowly lowered onto it. She couldn’t help but jump at the feeling of coolness beneath her legs. Why couldn’t they have brought the plush chairs there?

Sam peered up at the man who was sitting on the other side of the table, catching the name _Lincoln_ printed on a velcro patch near his left shoulder. A video camera was mounted on a tripod just beside him, aimed at her face. She suddenly felt naked again, wandering around the basement in nothing but a towel. Her stiff hands instinctively tried pulling the material of her damp red hoodie closer, but it did nothing. It brought neither the warmth nor comfort she was craving.

She wants to ask about her mom. Her heart felt like it was bleeding for one of her hugs. For a kiss on the head from her father. For the feeling of her baby brother’s arms cinched tightly around her waist.

But unfortunately, her lips don’t comply as she responds to the brunet officer. “Just tell me what you need to know.”

The questions start out simple. Ones that don’t hurt to answer as much as she initially thought they would. She didn’t want to have to get a call from them in a few weeks asking for the rest of her story. Sam wanted to get it all out now and never have to think about it again.

However, she soon realizes this won’t be the case when the word “Samantha” falls from Officer Lincoln’s mouth. Her face scrunches up in disgust, hearing Josh’s distorted voice beneath the mask calling her full name as she ran desperately from him. Her heart clenched in her chest at the thought of the poor boy who had gotten left behind.

As she got closer and closer to describing the events that happened before morning hit, Sam could feel herself beginning to break off, piece by piece. Her head was throbbing against her skull, her fingers were starting to feel hot, and the thought of a possessed Hannah desperately scraping her unkempt fingernails into the dirt to dig Beth from the ground made nausea creep into the pit of her stomach.

She was going to be sick.

With the simple words, “I think I’m done now,” Sam was allowed out of her seat and into the hallway where a different officer was waiting. She followed this woman through winding hallways that made her more nauseous with every turn.

Eventually, they came to stop outside a door. Hearing shouting voices, the female officer went inside first with Sam entering slowly after. Before she even had time to process the room, her eyes landed on Emily just as her fist connected with Michael’s face.

Feeling a lurch in her stomach, Sam laid eyes on the trashcan by the door and quickly leaned over it. As she heaved once, she suddenly remembered her empty stomach. The one that hadn’t eaten since nearly 4 PM yesterday. Nothing was in her body for her to throw up.

The yelling voices were making her ears hurt as she slowly looked around the room she had entered blindly. It seemed like it was meant for meetings to take place, consisting of a long table with swivel chairs all around it, in one of them, Jessica sat silently. A couch was pushed up against the wall with Ashley and Chris on either cushion, both staring at their feet.

Beside the table, Matt was grabbing Emily’s arms from behind to prevent her from hitting Michael again, who removed his hand from his face to reveal the blood rushing from his nose. At the sight of this, black spots began to cloud Sam’s vision.

As she felt herself hit the floor, she realized that the fight from Mt. Washington was far from over.

**Author's Note:**

> Coming soon will be the official story, After Dawn. I can't say that updates will be posted at a consistent time, because I still do struggle with writer's block and mental health issues of my own. However, I can confidently say that I'm really excited to get into this! You may want to buckle up, because it's going to be a wild ride.


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